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Harriest predicament you've ever found yourself in while in the woods?

Nov 11, 2017 is a day I wish I could forget. I went out to simply move a ladderstand, which I've done dozens of times. 18' in the air and the stand suddenly lurched backward. I looked to my right and saw an open spot of the ground. I had literally second to decide what to do, so I jumped.

I hit the ground like a load of bricks. The ground wasn't level so all of my 64 year old 240# landed on my right leg. I was in shock for a moment and couldn't move either leg. I then noticed my right foot was twisted in an unnatural position.

As I took inventory of myself, pain started shooting up my right leg. Also, I was able then to move my legs, which was good. I laid still for a couple moments and took out my phone. Zero signal.

I always carry a "snake stick" which is just a simple hiking stick. I used this to attempt to stand. Doing so popped my right foot back to close to where it belonged. Pain was so intense, I fell backward.

I knew I couldn't stay there, so I stood up again. Gradually, I hobbled the 200 yards to my atv. Rode atv back to truck, loaded it onto the trailer. Once back in my truck, I decided to simply drive the 1.5 hours back home. Wife then drove me to ER.

3 days later, a plate and 13 screws were inserted to correct a fracture to my fibula and my ankle. 8 weeks not able to put weight on m6 leg followed by 12 weeks in a boot.

I've not hunted since.
 

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rifle02 said:
Yes, I've thought about using a weight on the end of a string or twine. The thing is to find a tree limb that's not all that high in that case I didn't have much luck finding something down closer to the ground.
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I am regularly trying to find something to make the job easier. I definitely feel for you. I use a hillside pretty regularly. Pull em up , park down hill and roll em down.
 
Jon54 said:
Nov 11, 2017 is a day I wish I could forget. I went out to simply move a ladderstand, which I've done dozens of times. 18' in the air and the stand suddenly lurched backward. I looked to my right and saw an open spot of the ground. I had literally second to decide what to do, so I jumped.

I hit the ground like a load of bricks. The ground wasn't level so all of my 64 year old 240# landed on my right leg. I was in shock for a moment and couldn't move either leg. I then noticed my right foot was twisted in an unnatural position.

As I took inventory of myself, pain started shooting up my right leg. Also, I was able then to move my legs, which was good. I laid still for a couple moments and took out my phone. Zero signal.

I always carry a "snake stick" which is just a simple hiking stick. I used this to attempt to stand. Doing so popped my right foot back to close to where it belonged. Pain was so intense, I fell backward.

I knew I couldn't stay there, so I stood up again. Gradually, I hobbled the 200 yards to my atv. Rode atv back to truck, loaded it onto the trailer. Once back in my truck, I decided to simply drive the 1.5 hours back home. Wife then drove me to ER.

3 days later, a plate and 13 screws were inserted to correct a fracture to my fibula and my ankle. 8 weeks not able to put weight on m6 leg followed by 12 weeks in a boot.

I've not hunted since.
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Did your story make the local news or paper? I remember a story like that. I probably know the surgeon that operated on you, depending on where you had it done. I work in that business.
 
Cotis said:
Did your story make the local news or paper? I remember a story like that. I probably know the surgeon that operated on you, depending on where you had it done. I work in that business.
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Not in paper, thank goodness. Memphis is blessed with fabulous healthcare. God was also on my side. I called Campbells Clinic 1st thing (730a) on Monday, after the fall. They asked if I could be there at 8am as they just had a cancellation. That cancellation was also to have surgery on Weds. Dr Isikowa (sp?). Was my doctor. She was trained in the military and was great. Wife said surgery lasted about 3 hours.

I'm left with lingering issues. I wish the screws were removed especially the ones that go thru both leg bones, but they have advised against it.
 
I have one more story that I would't say was scary because it happened so fast, but I know we were lucky it didn't turn out worse.

I'll preface this by saying I love my son and honestly NEVER tried to kill him in his youth!!! LOL!!!

This was almost 20 years ago and he was about 7 or 8 and we were just going to go for an afternoon of fishing on the Little Hatchie Creek which borders our families land. We unloaded the 4 wheeler and headed towards the creek...he was sitting in front of me and I was letting him drive, which he'd done dozens of times.

We might have been going 6-8 mph when he hit rut that caused the handlebars to turn hard right and his thumb to hit full throttle for a second or two. The 4 wheeler immediately flipped, ass end up and launched me like a catapult...in a millisecond I was flying like dang superman.

I landed 12-15 feet away and when I hit, I turned and saw the 4 wheeler upside down, gas running out the vent tube and my son still under it...the adrenaline dump allowed me to roll the 4-wheeler off of him and back over on its wheels.

Thankfully, he'd only had his breath knocked out. He was scared and it took him a few seconds to draw that first breath but once I was certain he was OK, my adrenaline wore off and I realized I was hurt.

We got the flooded, bent and broken up 4 wheeler cranked and rode it straight back to the truck, loaded it up and left. We called home to let mom / wife know what happened and I drove an hour back to the house. When we got home she took me to the hospital and I had a broken arm and 2 broken wrists.

To this day, when we go through that spot to go hunting or fishing, we talk about that wreck. He even jokes and calls it Superman Hill. Fortunately we're able to remember it as a mostly funny story but its one that neither of us will ever forget!
 
rifle02 said:
Only with pins, screws, etc. Or so I was told. It's raised up on the inside end (as under my chin). Not at all painfull, I decided to leave well enough alone.
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It depends on the break - Mine was broken in 2 places and I have a plate and 8 screws in it. If the break is clean and the bones are still in line, it can heal on its own.
 
Back when I was in college I came home one Friday afternoon for the weekend. Wasn't planning on hunting that afternoon as it was warm and I had plans that night, but I changed my mind at the last second. I had a climber hung watching a salt lick right behind my mom's house. I had actually told everyone that I'd normally tell where I was hunting that I wouldn't be hunting that evening, so nobody knew where I was at. I walked back behind the house and started going up the tree in an ol man climber. Made it about 8-10 feet when it all went wrong. Without realizing it I was grabbing the stand with my right hand directly underneath the pin that holds the stand together. It caused the pin to work it's way up out of the stand, so when I went to sit down to pull my feet up I just fell straight backwards. I felt like it all happened in slow motion. Fortunately for me the foot straps held my feet tight so I ended up just hanging upside down by my feet. The first thing I realized was that my phone had fallen out of my front pocket on the fall so I couldn't call anyone to come help me out. After regaining my wits I realized that I was going to have to do a sit-up and pull myself back up on the foot platform. I probably did 15-20 sit-ups over the next 10-15 minutes (that seemed like hours) but the top half of the stand was connected to the foot straps, and the weight of the stand hanging down below me had the foot straps cinched so tight that I couldn't get my feet free each time I'd do a sit-up. After what I'm guessing was 20 or so minutes I had finally lost enough energy that I couldn't do any more sit-ups and was starting to get scared. I knew my brother would be coming home from work soon so I just started yelling hoping he'd hear me when he got out of the vehicle. I'm not sure how long I yelled, but it was long enough that I had nearly lost my voice when I finally started hearing a 4-wheeler. By this time I was hurting pretty bad and was scared to death. Come to find out, my mom's next door neighbor, who lives probably 800 or so yards from where I was hunting, was inside with no doors or windows open and heard me screaming. Not knowing what was wrong they called 911 and set out to find whoever was yelling. He finally got to me and had to stand up on the back of his 4 wheeler, hold the bottom half of stand, and give me enough support that I could finally get my feet free. By the time we got back to my mom's front yard a nice crowd of folks that had heard me yelling had gathered. Not only that, but it just so happened when the neighbor called 911 a life flight chopper was in the area so they ended up landing in my moms front yard as well. I ended up just having two sprained ankles and a severely bruised ego out of that deal. I was beyond fortunate that it didn't go worse. I learned a lot that day and bought my first harness the next afternoon.
 
I"m amazed at the number of folks here with my similar set of hardware in their leg/ankle.
Jon54 said:
I'm left with lingering issues. I wish the screws were removed especially the ones that go thru both leg bones, but they have advised against it.
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I "feel" you :) I begged my doctor to remove the screws in my ankle. Some of them seem to have backed out just a little and are pushing thru the skin on my ankle.

My wifes favorite pastime, is to hit my ankle with the grocery cart while shopping. The bar on the lower part of the grocery cart hits the screw head protruding thru my ankle just perfectly, which leads me to hopping around and trying not to cuss her out in the store.
 
gtk said:
I"m amazed at the number of folks here with my similar set of hardware in their leg/ankle.


I "feel" you :) I begged my doctor to remove the screws in my ankle. Some of them seem to have backed out just a little and are pushing thru the skin on my ankle.

My wifes favorite pastime, is to hit my ankle with the grocery cart while shopping. The bar on the lower part of the grocery cart hits the screw head protruding thru my ankle just perfectly, which leads me to hopping around and trying not to cuss her out in the store.
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I had two of mine removed. These two anchored my broken bone to the other bone and was supposed to break over time as my tendons and ligaments healed and stay in there. I got to a point where I couldn't gain anymore mobility, and the doctor went in and took those two out. I had 6 total and a plate but now 4 and a plate.
 
I was turkey hunting some public back in bama with my buddy. He had found this spot with birds days before, and we hit it that am. At daybreak, we had one hammering over the clear cut we were in in a drain over the first gas pad not 100 yards from our trucks. We ran down the road to try to think about the best approach to him. I decided that we needed to scale the cliff to get a good vantage point on him.

I'm pretty athletic and have climbed plenty of times in the woods, so I thought no big deal here. I was about 10 ft up using the tree and cliff to shimmy up the side of it when my foot flat out missed the tree. I realized I was falling on my back straight down to the ground. By the grace of God, I fell right in between the split of the tree after the 10 ft fall which caught me from falling another 5-7 ft on big rocks as the cliff was on a hill when I first started climbing. My gun went flying, and I was left with two big bruises on either side of my lower back. I look back and thank the good Lord for not letting me fall all the way. No telling how injured I would have been.
 
utvolsfan77 said:
You guys are cracking me up with these stories! They actually reminded me of a few incidents of my own that I had totally forgotten about. I'll try to give you folks the short version of probably my most memorable one.

It happened in 1984 while I was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky shortly before my first tour of duty in Germany. While I was on leave before departing for Germany, my younger brother and I decided to bow hunt Fort Campbell during October 1984. Back then they allowed you to bow hunt the two patches of woods between the Air Assault School obstacle course and the small arms ranges on Mabry Road. At that time, I had one of the first commercially available climbing tree stands on the market, an early Baker kit that you had to add your own plywood base to. I also had the hand climber that was sold separately from the foot platform, and it could double as a makeshift seat.

Now, to fully appreciate the gravity (pun intended) of the situation I later found myself in, all of you younger fellows need to understand that 40 years ago, commercially made tree stands were just beginning to appear on the market. They were such a new concept that no manufacturer had yet accumulated the experience necessary to know to attach a tether between the foot platform and the upper seat section (or hand climber) of climbing tree stands. Nor were commercially manufactured safety harnesses yet available as they are now. Even crude waist belts long enough to attach to a tree didn't begin appearing in most areas until the early 1990s. In other words, tree stand hunting 40 years ago was relatively dangerous and was nowhere near as safe as it is today. In hindsight, it is truly amazing that there weren't even more injuries and deaths than there actually were from tree stand accidents back then.

I can already hear the older guys in this group laughing because they already KNOW where this is going and what happened to me that day! I picked a fairly limbless tree and climbed up about 23-25 feet and got settled in. It was a really warm afternoon and for several hours the only movement was from multiple squadrons of mosquitoes the size of 747s. About an hour before dark, I heard movement behind me and turned around to look behind the tree. Excited with the possibility of seeing a deer, when I turned, my weight shifted, putting pressure on the foot platform closest to the tree trunk which caused it to slip and fall down the tree. Now here I was 25 feet up a tree clinging to that hand climber for dear life and wondering how I was going to get down out of that tree without falling and breaking my neck in the process!

I grabbed my bow, the original Bear Whitetail Hunter 6-wheel compound, and dropped it down on a nearby bush as carefully as possible to minimize the damage to it. At first, I began to slowly bear hug my way down the tree - imagine a 180-pound inch worm moving in reverse - while wishing I had paid more attention in gym class when I was younger. How many of you older guys have ever hugged a white oak on an express elevator going down at 40 miles per hour?

Needless to say, the bark on white oak trees is nowhere near as soft as what I previously believed it to be. My shirt sleeves were totally destroyed, and the insides of my arms were shredded pretty good by the time I finally reached the ground. More of my skin was on that tree than on my forearms at that point, but fortunately, the only other injury was to my pride. Miraculously, there was considerably less damage to my bow and the only thing I had to replace was the 3-pin bow sight. Looking up the tree I wondered how on earth I was going to get my hand climber down. I eventually decided to just leave it, and that Baker foot platform was donated to a trash bin soon afterwards.

Ironically, after leaving Germany a little over three years later, I was reassigned to, of all places.......you guessed it....... Fort Campbell, Kentucky. One weekend when I was really bored and had nothing better to do, I went back to that same little patch of woods. I learned that hunting was no longer allowed in that area due to safety concerns, so I just walked around for a bit. While strolling through the woods, I remembered the incident from 1984 and started searching for the tree I had been in. It is surprising how much a woodlot can change in only three years. It took more than an hour, but I actually found the exact same tree and, amazingly, my hand climber was still in it. Unfortunately, the tree had grown around the metal frame of it but as I remembered the incident, I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Well, just like my granddaddy always told me, anything that doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.
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Well I started hunting 46 years ago, so literally lmao this reading your entire story. Had the exact same stand kick out from under me about 20-25 ft high in Catoosa WMA one day. Actually my brother and I was scouting for the upcoming hunt and I was gonna leave my stand there for the beginning of the hunt the next day. I just wanted to climb it in the daylight to see what I could see. Just as I reached where I was going, the platform kicked out and I had just let go of the climber, so straight down I went at warp speed on a rough bark Chestnut Oak…with short sleeves on! Ripped all the skin off and both forearms as my instinct tried to stop the fall. When I came to my senses and realized what happened my brother was laying on the ground laughing so hard he was tearing up. It hurt really bad for a while but healed up eventually. Not as traumatic as your experience, but so similar I had to share it. You're so right, how did so many more hunters not injure themselves using them old Baker climbing stands!
 
Three short snake experiences…

I was probably 12 or so and squirrel hunting. That was a year we had cicadas. I heard one stuck in the dry leaves just buzzing to high heavens, so I kneeled down to pick it up. All of a sudden this 5 foot long stick starts moving. Yep, it was a 5 ft rattlesnake making that "buzzing" sound and I had bent down to pick it up! Thank God it was stretched out at the time, and decided to move along!

My dad use to drop me off during the summer when school was out to dig ginseng all day and then pick me up on his way home. I was only 16, and actually found enough ginseng to buy my first car that year. Anyway, those of you who have hunted ginseng know you'll stop for a minute and look around before taking a few steps and then stop another minute and so on. I had been standing in this one spot for a good minute, and apparently long enough for this rattlesnake to catch up to me, and caught my eye and I looked down and it was crawling against the arch of my boot like it was a log or a rock. It didn't know any difference and just kept crawling on its way. Fortunately I had the sense enough to stand very freaking still.

On another ginseng hunting trip that year I had sit down on a big log for probably 5 minutes to take a break. I stood up and happened to look back at the log and the entire time I was sitting about 5 foot from a coiled up copperhead. It just sit quietly and watched me at an easy striking distance. Have to wonder how often that happens and you never realize it.
 
13pt said:
Three short snake experiences…

I was probably 12 or so and squirrel hunting. That was a year we had cicadas. I heard one stuck in the dry leaves just buzzing to high heavens, so I kneeled down to pick it up. All of a sudden this 5 foot long stick starts moving. Yep, it was a 5 ft rattlesnake making that "buzzing" sound and I had bent down to pick it up! Thank God it was stretched out at the time, and decided to move along!

My dad use to drop me off during the summer when school was out to dig ginseng all day and then pick me up on his way home. I was only 16, and actually found enough ginseng to buy my first car that year. Anyway, those of you who have hunted ginseng know you'll stop for a minute and look around before taking a few steps and then stop another minute and so on. I had been standing in this one spot for a good minute, and apparently long enough for this rattlesnake to catch up to me, and caught my eye and I looked down and it was crawling against the arch of my boot like it was a log or a rock. It didn't know any difference and just kept crawling on its way. Fortunately I had the sense enough to stand very freaking still.

On another ginseng hunting trip that year I had sit down on a big log for probably 5 minutes to take a break. I stood up and happened to look back at the log and the entire time I was sitting about 5 foot from a coiled up copperhead. It just sit quietly and watched me at an easy striking distance. Have to wonder how often that happens and you never realize it.
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I have wondered the same thing about cats. Always heard tales of them being seen in N Alabama and S Tennessee but I have never seen one which amazes me with how much time I have spent in the woods over my 41 years. I have to believe most of us have been watched before.
 
Laserman1 said:
Went fishing with a guy from college in South Georgia. Coming out a dirt road a old tall guy stepped out with a shotgun and then his buddy stepped out. I had heard a crazy man lived in the woods beside the river we were fishing I thought deliverance. He walked up to the drivers side window and told the guy with me to get out. Made him open his trunk. I didn't know the guy I was with had been there earlier in the day fishing, and had stolen the guys rods, tackle boxes, boat paddle, life jackets, and even the guys cooler with fish in it. And still had it in his trunk. My stuff was in the trunk but I thought the rest of the things was his. With the other guy holding a gun on me I told the guys I had never been fishing here before. They said they saw him and his car earlier in the day at the end of the road where their boat was.
They believed me and one held a gun on me while the old guy beat the crap out of the guy I was with. When we got back to campus, I never spoke to that guy again. The worst part was we were at a Christian college, both music majors, and he actually led a church choir.
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Sounds like he had the devil beat out of him
 
rifle02 said:
Only with pins, screws, etc. Or so I was told. It's raised up on the inside end (as under my chin). Not at all painfull, I decided to leave well enough alone.
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Back in the 60's yes. I was in the third grade and basically had an Ortho guy put his body weight on my shoulder and put it back into place ( overlapping bone). Then it was wrapped and had to be changed weekly. Lots of broken bones from crazy stuff as a kid. Probably how I got an interest in medicine

But yes , now it's easier and you get a controlled and perfect approximation with plate and screws. And then no weekly visit for taping etc.
 
About 15 years ago my dad and I were hunting a flat swampy WMA in Louisiana. We had only been to this place a few times and from satellite pics had decided to park the truck and walk down an old oil rig road to where a well head was, then cut into the woods a few hundred yards to set up for a hunt.
It was about 45° an hour or so before daylight. We got there, parked the truck, and walked all the way to the well head. As we started walking into the woods my dad was about 5 steps in front of me and suddenly dropped into the ground completely out of sight, all I see is his hunting pack and hat sitting on the "ground".
Come to find out, the well head was sitting atop elevated ground built up a few feet by digging a moat around the circumference, but a floating grass had completely overgrown the surface of the water making it look exactly like regular grassy terrain. My dad had been on solid land one step and the very next step in 7+ feet of water completely over his head.
Luckily he had some extra gear in the truck and was able to go back and change into some dry clothes and we continued on to an uneventful hunt. Haven't been back to that WMA since.
 
david k. said:
I have one more story that I would't say was scary because it happened so fast, but I know we were lucky it didn't turn out worse.

I'll preface this by saying I love my son and honestly NEVER tried to kill him in his youth!!! LOL!!!

This was almost 20 years ago and he was about 7 or 8 and we were just going to go for an afternoon of fishing on the Little Hatchie Creek which borders our families land. We unloaded the 4 wheeler and headed towards the creek...he was sitting in front of me and I was letting him drive, which he'd done dozens of times.

We might have been going 6-8 mph when he hit rut that caused the handlebars to turn hard right and his thumb to hit full throttle for a second or two. The 4 wheeler immediately flipped, ass end up and launched me like a catapult...in a millisecond I was flying like dang superman.

I landed 12-15 feet away and when I hit, I turned and saw the 4 wheeler upside down, gas running out the vent tube and my son still under it...the adrenaline dump allowed me to roll the 4-wheeler off of him and back over on its wheels.

Thankfully, he'd only had his breath knocked out. He was scared and it took him a few seconds to draw that first breath but once I was certain he was OK, my adrenaline wore off and I realized I was hurt.

We got the flooded, bent and broken up 4 wheeler cranked and rode it straight back to the truck, loaded it up and left. We called home to let mom / wife know what happened and I drove an hour back to the house. When we got home she took me to the hospital and I had a broken arm and 2 broken wrists.

To this day, when we go through that spot to go hunting or fishing, we talk about that wreck. He even jokes and calls it Superman Hill. Fortunately we're able to remember it as a mostly funny story but its one that neither of us will ever forget!
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Things change in an instant!
 
My buddy and I hunted until dark one evening in a huge tract of unfamiliar woods, and got turned around coming out. The loggers had logging roads everywhere and we took the wrong one. It got below freezing and rained and sleeted all night. Luckily my buddy was still smoking then and had a lighter, but everything was soaking wet. We kept moving and by the grace of God found a vehicle the loggers had temporarily left behind and there was a Coleman lantern with a few ounces of fuel in it. Somehow we got a fire started, kept it going all night, and walked out in the sunshine the next morning. It was miserable, but without that fire I don't know what would've happened.
 

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